Leading a Lean Transformation Programme that Helped NHS Reap Savings of Over £4m

NHS Shared Business Services needed a complete cost-cutting, customer satisfaction improvement, and internal team-building transformation programme. That’s when they decided to engage Reinvigoration to support the undertaking and lead a 15-month programme of change. Here’s how Reinvigoration helped NHS create the capacity for growth, improved customer satisfaction significantly, and built a team of 12 internal lean experts.

Client Overview

NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) is the market leader in corporate services for the National Health Service (NHS) in England. They provide a range of support services, including Finance & Accounting (F&A), Procurement, Employment Services (ES), and Innovation & Technology Services (ITS), which deliver operational efficiencies, improved service quality, and real cost savings for their clients. Established in April 2006, NHS SBS has a workforce of over 3,000 people and is headquartered in Leeds, with offices across England.

The Challenge

The client needed to reduce costs, create capacity for growth, and significantly improve customer satisfaction measured through Net Promoter Score (NPS). In addition, they wanted to build an internal team of expert lean practitioners to remove the reliance on external consultants.

The transformation programme was structured into six phases. The diagnosis phase identified a very fragmented process with a lot of waste built in, with a lack of ownership endemic throughout the process. While there were clear trends in the types of errors and delays present throughout the process, little was being done to drive out root causes. But to resolve all these issues, they needed some expert intervention.

The Solution

That’s when NHS SBS engaged Reinvigoration. They needed Reinvigoration to support a 15-month transformation programme.

How Reinvigoration helped:

We led a blended team, building capability throughout, and were fully accountable for the financial results of the programme. Throughout the engagement, we helped to:

• Redesign the entire process via a series of workshops. There are now 13 customer-focused teams that manage the end-to-end processes for specific clients.
• Build quality into the processes, introduce standard operating procedures, and establish new performance hubs and daily team huddles.
• Create a more efficient and effective process for managing invoices.
• Ensure staff have undergone team problem-solving training, enabling them to work more effectively.
  

The Outcomes

Reinvigoration helped NHS Shared Business Services to:

• Create the capacity of over 300 FTE through fundamental process redesign, reorganisation, and better operations management and control, resulting in cashable savings equivalent to over £4m.
• Improve the overall NPS score significantly from a heavy minus score to +24% (at the time of project closure).
• Accredit over 100 people at various levels of the Lean Competency System.
• Build a team of 12 internal lean experts over time to continue with the great work.